4 | Airlift Northwest
They immediately tended to his injuries, se-
cured him for flight and after taking-off in
their helicopter, touched-down minutes lat-
er at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
There would be coma and complications
arising from respiratory failure, but doctors
feverishly addressed all urgencies, and Bach
ultimately survived. He has since credited
Airlift Northwest for saving his life and the
near-death experience has prompted his re-
writing of a new passage to be published
with a new edition of Jonathon Livingston
Seagull.
Brenda Nelson, Chief Flight Nurse for
Airlift Northwest, confesses that no one
knew who Richard Bach was when respond-
ers were deployed to the medical emergency,
and that’s understandable since this team
doesn’t focus on saving personalities, but
saving people. Over the thirty years of it op-
eration, Airlift Northwest has beneficially
impacted many lives, not only in Washing-
